Part of my summer holiday this year will be spent “oop North”, more specifically West Yorkshire. The Nunns and Cockerhams on the maternal side of my family all come from around the Rothwell area (that I’ve discovered so far in my research), so it makes it easy to base myself in one spot nearby.

I’d done almost no work on this side of the family (my great grandmother’s parents), as there are a few family members already doing research, so I’d left it a bit and concentrated on other lines. So when I came to actually compiling a list of addresses, churches, graveyards etc, I realised I had very little! Back to the censuses I went, and it has taken me quite a while to document it all, and I’m still not finished. I’m also ordering certificates that I haven’t got already, so it’s a slow enough process.

My great grandmother Elsie Nunns is the only great grandparent that I knew – I was in my late teens when she died. She came out as a child with her parents Sam and Alice Nunns from England to New Zealand around 1902. Sam and Alice went on to have another seven children, and there have been several reunions of their descendents (though I haven’t been able to attend one yet!).

Yesterday I posted a photo of my half great great aunt, Mary (Mollie) Freeth, dressed up in Japanese costume. She sent this postcard to her (half) brother, Alexander Wright, my great grandfather, who was with the Royal Irish Fusiliers at the time. This is what she wrote on the back:

Here is a copy of Will’s snapshot of me – it is not so good as his is it. How are you getting on? also Hilda I hope she is well – give her my love. Have you seen Rose Godfrey lately? Give her my love. I must write to her soon. Am very busy just now – with fond love from your big fat Japanese sister Mollie.

As far as I know (from family legend), Alexander deserted from the army and somehow turned up in New Zealand. I need to do some digging and find out more about his time with the Fusiliers, and also how he managed to get passage to New Zealand.

Actually, I was originally told he’d deserted from the navy, because of this photo:

(Ephraim) George Wright

On the reverse is inscribed the name “Alexander”:

(Ephraim) George Wright - reverse

Family members concluded that Alexander had been in the Royal Navy, and had jumped ship. I’ve since identified the mystery sailor as Alexander’s brother, (Ephraim) George Wright, and that it is his handwriting on the back. He obviously wrote on the photograph to whom he was sending it!

I’ve been searching for my great great grandmother Mary Jane Clarke‘s first marriage on and off for some time. I’m not sure why I’d never thought to search the Irish Civil Registration Indexes on FamilySearch before now. Possibly because I didn’t know they were there!

I’d done a search on Ancestry, which hadn’t brought up anything, and I’d searched on FreeBMD as well, thinking it would have been registered in England. Nada. Mary Jane’s birth was before civil registration started in Ireland, so I was hoping that if I could find the marriage certificate for her first marriage, it might tell me a little bit more about her and her father. By the time of her second marriage, to my great great grandfather Ephraim Wright in 1882, her father was deceased.

The one place I hadn’t looked for a marriage was in perhaps the most obvious place – where their first child had been born! Mary (Mollie) Freeth gave her birthplace as Co Meath in the 1891 England census, when she was living with her mother, stepfather Ephraim, and half-siblings. Her birthyear was around 1877.1 Her brother Percy had been born the following year in 1878 in Aldershot, Hampshire, and it was his birth certificate that had given me Mary Jane’s first husband’s full name – James Freeth.2

On the Friday before I was heading off to Dublin, I was compiling some notes for the trip and getting together some research goals. I re-read some of Donna Moughty’s blog posts on Irish research, which prompted me to look at FamilySearch’s Irish Civil Registration indexes. I found a marriage for a James Freeth in Navan, Co Meath, in 1877. I then searched on my great great grandmother’s maiden name, Mary Jane Clarke, and found a similar marriage record for her – and the volume and page numbers matched! Eureka!3

So, I had all the information I needed to order a photocopy of the marriage record from the General Register Office’s research facility in Dublin. You can do searches of the indexes there, at a cost. Much handier to do your searching online for free.

When I received the photocopied record, I was excited to see lots of information I didn’t have. The marriage took place at the Roman Catholic Chapel of Navan on 05 February 1877. Mary Jane was 22 years of age, living in Railway Street in Navan, and worked as a servant. Her father John Clarke’s occupation was listed as ‘Soldier’ – a fantastic lead to follow up. James was 23 and also a soldier – a sergeant with the 94th Regiment, living in Navan Barracks. Witnesses were Wm. Smith, Corporal 94th Regiment and Franny Carroll.4

I’ve been filing! I haven’t done much else, just placed documents, notes, booklets, etc into clear plastic pockets and filed them in the relevant folder. I still need to process a lot of it, but at least it’s filed away.

And it was interesting to come across a few things I’d completely forgotten about. Like a photocopy of an old photograph, with some names inscribed. I posted the photograph for a Wordless Wednesday post a while back, but didn’t know who most of the people were. On my trip to New Zealand in February, my father gave me the photocopy of it with the names, and I’d squirrelled it away rather than filing it properly.

And then I found this photo my father had copied for me – same family, same house (possibly an earlier date?)

Michael Gaffaney & family, "Belper", Arowhenua, South Canterbury, NZ

What I noticed about the photos, is that my great great grandfather Michael is being poured a drink (of what?) in both! Was it some kind of family tradition or long-running joke, or maybe just pure coincidence?

There were a number of things I meant to do today, including following up my post from yesterday and writing more about what my research uncovered in Dublin. Some filing would have been good, too. Instead, I went and found four great great great great grandparents. As you do, on a summery Friday afternoon.

I have a copy of a Burke family tree, which my father passed on to me. It outlines one line of descendents of Michael Burke from Co Mayo, Ireland, and includes my grandmother, his great grandchild. According to the tree, Michael and his wife Brigid Flynn moved to Scotland around 1843 with their son Martin. It was Martin who later immigrated to New Zealand with his wife Ann Philp and their daughter Mary, and subsequently had two more children.

Anyway, I’ve checked a lot of the dates given in the tree, and found them to be a little inaccurate, so I’ve been verifying them slowly. The one thing I’d really love to know, is where exactly in Mayo was Martin born? Where did he and his parents emigrate from?

So, I had this thought today (I’ve had it on and off, to be honest, it’s just today it was a bit more niggley) – why not check the Scotland censuses? Maybe they gave their parish or townland to the enumerator? I had an approximate year of birth for Martin, and the names of his siblings (John, Thomas, Mary) and parents, so I figured I had a reasonable chance of finding them.

I find ScotlandsPeople a fantastic resource, but it can feel a bit like pot luck at times – I never really know if I’ve found the right person or not, and BAM, there go your credits to see if you’re right. Having said that, you pays yer money, and you get the real deal – images of birth, death and marriage records, as well as the censuses.

I knew from Martin and Ann’s marriage record that Martin was living in Perth in 1861, so I started there – and found the family living at 134 High Street, in the parish of Middle Church, Perth1:

Michael Burke – head – 52 – Labourer Ag.

Bridget Burke – wife – 49

Martin Burke – son – 19 – Ploughman

Thomas Burke – son – 20 – do.

John Burke – son – 16 – CabinetMaker Ap.

Mary Burke – dau – 9

All are listed as being born in Ireland, except Mary who was born in Perth. So that gives a clue to the timing of their move to Scotland. And Martin is listed as married, but where is his wife? They married in February that year, so it may be possible she was visiting her parents..?

I searched on Michael Burke in the 1871 census and couldn’t find him. Perhaps he’d died? Upon checking the death records, there he was (as Bourke) in 1868… along with the names of his parents! Eulick Bourke, Labourer, and Mary Flinn. (The “Eulick” is more likely to be Ulick, and the “Flinn” is probably Flynn.)2

So, searching the 1871 census again, but this time on Bridget Burke, and I found the family, still living in High Street but at a different number (129?)3:

Bridget Burke – head – 58 – no occupation

Thomas Burke – son – 30 – Ship Carpenter

John Burke – son – 26 – Labourer

Mary Burke – daur – 19 – do.

Michael Burke – nephew – 11 – Scholar

When I looked for Bridget in the 1881 census, I couldn’t find her, so I immediately checked the death records… and there she was in 1874… along with the names of her parents! Patrick Flynn, Labourer and Mary Derrick4.

So, I still don’t know exactly where they’re from. I tried out the Irish Ancestors Research Wizard and apparently there are 48 Mayo parishes in which the Flynn and Burke surnames coincide. That’s a lot of parish records to check out.

I think my next task is to try and follow Martin’s siblings in the censuses, and see what more I can find out. There’s also their cousin Michael, who turns up in the 1871 census. He was born in Perth, but it could be worthwhile finding his parents.

I was in Dublin visiting friends over the weekend, and because of the Bank Holiday in the UK, had decided to stay until the Monday and grab some precious research time – and my first foray into records there.

I had an early start, as I was driving into Dublin from Co Wicklow, but traffic was definitely not as bad as it was a few years ago. First task was parking the car, and I’d chosen the parking building off Trinity Street, despite it being horrendously expensive, as it was near to my last stop of the day.

And so, onto Lombard Street and Joyce House, where I hoped to pick up the marriage certificate of Mary Jane Clark and her first husband. After a short wait, I was told at the counter that they only dealt with certificates for marriages after 1920, and directed me to Navan (where the marriage took place) and the GRO in Roscommon. Neither place was on my itinerary for that day! I hurried over the river to the Irish Life Centre in Lower Abbey Street and the GRO Research facility there, where I filled out the appropriate form, paid €4 and waited. I was warned it would take approximately 20 minutes, and I was thinking I should have brought a book with me, but in the end it was probably only ten minutes and then I was on my way.

Just across the courtyard, in Block 2 of the Irish Life Centre, is the Valuation Office. It was very quiet in there, no waiting at all, and after giving a staff member the name of the townland I was interested in, relevant Revision books (or ‘Cancelled Land Books’) then came out. After Griffith’s Valuation, the revision books show the change in ownership and occupancy, as well as size and value, of a piece of land over the years. Changes were recorded in different coloured ink, depending on the year, which makes it more useful to view the original books in colour, rather than in black and white on microfilm at an LDS centre. The books themselves go from around 1859, essentially a copy of the Valuation, up until 1977. (Thanks to Donna Moughty and her blog post that alerted me to this valuable resource!) Self-service full-colour A3 copying is available, at a cost of €1 a sheet, and it took almost no time to copy the fifteen pages I wanted.

Next stop: the National Library in Kildare Street. I stowed my bag and coat in a free locker, and set off upstairs to the Main Reading Room to get a reader’s card. To view the church records I wanted, it didn’t look like I needed one, but they’re valid for three years, so it was good to get it for later research. I had brought along some passport-size photos, but they weren’t required as they take your photo there. Once I’d been issued with my card, I headed back downstairs to the Genealogical Service room with a helpful staff member, who showed me where the church records on microfilm were kept and set me up with a microfilm reader in a separate room. Once I found a record, I had to take the film back to the Genealogical Service room to wait for a reader connected to a scanner. I also had to buy a printer card (€1) from the shop to pay for any copies I wanted. Unfortunately, when I came to print the first record I had found, the scanner machine failed to work. Which meant a 20 minute wait for the only other machine in the room. (I felt sorry for the main staff member in the room – very overworked, and running around doing an amazing job trying to help everyone as quickly as she could.) After finally being able to print the record, my time was up – I had just enough time to grab a very quick cuppa with a friend before heading off to the airport.